MATLAB® from The MathWorks, Inc. of Natick, Mass. provides a technical computing environment. MATLAB® provides an array-based computing environment in which a workspace consisting of a set of named arrays (variables) is built up during a MATLAB® session and stored in memory. In the conventional MATLAB® environment, the data generated in the workspace is stored in a MAT file format. A MAT file stores data in binary form. When a user creates a MAT file, the arrays in the workspace are saved in the MAT file as a continuous byte stream.
Since a MAT file stores data in binary form, it may require a large size of storage to save a large size of data, such as scientific data. A scientific data file format has been developed to save a large size of scientific data. An example of the scientific data file format can be found in Hierarchical Data Format, Version 5 (HDF5) file format. The HDF5 file format is a general purpose format for scientific data, supported by public domain code and documentation. It would be desirable to be able to store the data generated in the MATLAB® environment using a scientific data file format, such as HDF5.